Four Apprehended With $.5 Million in Drugs

Release Date:

October 19, 2016

TUCSON, Ariz. – Customs and Border Protection officers arrested four involved in separate weekend attempts to smuggle more than $500,000 worth of cocaine and methamphetamine through the Port of Nogales.

A CBP narcotics detection canine alertedto the undercarriage of a smugglingvehicle, where officers located andremoved nearly 25 pounds of meth frombeneath the exhaust system

Officers at the Mariposa crossing referred a 36-year-old woman from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, for a secondary inspection of her Volkswagen sedan Oct. 15. After a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted to one of the vehicle’s rear quarter panels, officers found more than 21 pounds of cocaine worth in excess of $243,000.

Also on Oct. 15, a CBP canine working alongside officers at the Mariposa crossing helped locate more than 15 pounds of cocaine, worth in excess of $175,000, and more than 5 pounds of meth, worth more than $15,000, under the rear seats of a Hyundai SUV. Officers arrested the female driver, 33, and her 29-year-old female passenger, both of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

A CBP canine also assisted with a third seizure Oct. 14 at the Dennis DeConcini crossing by alerting officers to a Volkswagen sedan transporting nearly 25 pounds of methamphetamine worth more than $74,000. Officers arrested the driver, a 25-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

Officers seized all drugs and vehicles used in the smuggling attempts, and turned the subjects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.